"Mocănița" – The steam train from Vaser Valley, Vişeul de Sus.

Welcome to Mocănița, Maramureș! We invite you to enjoy a unique experience, a journey on the last active forest railway in the world on which steam locomotives run, in a wild and charming natural setting located right in the heart of the Maramureș Mountains and also to learn the history of steam locomotives on the Vaser Valley. 

You are near the Forest Railway in Vişeu de Sus, right in northern Romania, close to the border with Ukraine where the Vaser Valley gives you the chance to enter and discover a magical world filled with tradition and authenticity.

Today we will travel with Mocanita 43.2 km round trip in about 6 hours with breaks included. The route to the final tourist station is about 2 h30 minutes with an intermediate break on the route of 10-15 minutes at km 16, Glimboaca station where the locomotive will be supplied with wood and water. At this stop, if desired, you can serve hot drinks (coffee, hot chocolate or tea), soft drinks (juices, still water and mineral water) and pastries (donut or pie with slightly salted cheese).

 Then we reach Paltin final station where the break will be about 1h30min, during which you can enjoy the beauty of the Vaser Valley, visit a small museum presenting the history of the Vaser Valley or buy a souvenir for your loved ones. 

Lunch can also be served. Those who already have the Mocănița Special packages (vouchers received from the ticket office) will go to a separate service point, where you only have to hand over the tickets and in exchange you receive the desired product. Tourists who have opted for simple tickets can purchase lunch for a fee, passing by the stand specially arranged for them.

Then you can join the traditional dance called hora with our colleagues, folk music dancers. We advise you to carefully read the rules for tourists’ travel with Mocănița Maramureș. 

The Forest Railways came into being to respond to an economic need: transporting timber from mountain areas. The exploitation of wood resources in the Vaser Valley began in the 17^th century, under Austro-Hungarian domination. The German-speaking colonists entered the virgin forests first and with the help of rafting brought the cut wood to the sawmills in Vişeu de Sus.

In 1932 construction began on the Forest Railway, a narrow gauge railway, which compared to rafting meant an enormous technical progress. Forest railways at that time spread throughout Europe, especially in the Carpathian area. The principle of operation was simple – following the course of the river, a narrow radius of curves was required (this allowed only a narrow gauge); on the way up, Mocănița carried only wagons with workers and empty wagons for logs, but on the way down they were filled with wood and practically the locomotive was pushed on the tracks by the weight of the train arriving to the wood processing factory.

Due to the development of road transport in the 50s and 60s, forest railways in Europe progressively disappeared. In Romania, however, they have remained for quite long, due to slower economic development. In 1970 there were over 3600 km of forest railway in the country, and in 1986 new steam locomotives were still manufactured in Romania. At the end of the 80s, over 15 forestry railways with an infrastructure of over 1000 km were operating in the country. The only forest railway functional today is Mocanita on the Vaser Valley – all others have been taken out of service.

In order for steam locomotives to be kept for tourist activity for as long as possible, production trains predominantly use Diesel locomotives. The forest railway has a total length of 46km. The first section was completed in 1933, about 32 km to Făina station. The remaining 14 km, as well as other branches in adjacent valleys, were built between 1950 and 1954. The narrow gauge of the line, with only 760 mm, is specific to forest railways and was built according to the Austro-Hungarian model of the pre-war period. The Vaser Valley forest railway remained the only active and functional railway in Europe, on which logs were still transported. 

We currently have 7 steam locomotives in operation.

• “Mariuţa” – is probably the oldest steam locomotive in Romania, manufactured in 1910 in Berlin, by the great manufacturer “Orenstein & Koppel”.
•  ”Cozia 1” – manufactured in 1986 in Reghin, being among the last locomotives built in Romania
•  ”Switzerland” – manufactured in 1954, in Resita 
•  ”Novicior” – manufactured in 1954, in Resita
•   ‘’Miraj’’ – fabricată în 1955, in Reșița 
•   ”Cozia 2” – manufactured in 1955, in Resita 
•   ”Botizu”-  manufactured in 1956, in Resita.

The 5 locomotives manufactured in Resita have 150 hp, and the average speed, together with rolling stock, is maximum 15 km/h.

The Vaser Valley, besides being fascinating, is also a valley that generates legends. Many of these legends actually turn out to be reality. One of them is that from Miraj, today a railway station, a place on the Vaser Valley about which it is said that in the autumn of 1916, in the middle of World War, here took place a battle between the Russian and German armies. Thus, at Miraj arises a “very strange” cemetery, particular in terms of architecture.

In World War II, the same combatants tried to secure control of the Vaser Valley as an access route to the Maramureş region. The retreating German troops considered the narrow gorge at Novicior suitable for organizing an ambush against the Red Army that was about to enter Maramureş. In this regard, engineering works were carried out in which thousands of people from north-western Transylvania participated in forced labour detachments, many of them being even inhabitants of Vişeu. Engineering work prepared by German troops for an ambush was useless when the Red Army made its passage through the Prislop Pass. Therefore, when the organization of defence by German-Hungarian troops seemed compromised, the Hungarians ordered the evacuation of Vişeu and implicitly of the Vaser Valley. To slow the Russian advance into Maramureş, bridges were blown up, much of the rolling stock was damaged, and the forest railway was almost completely destroyed. Traces of the presence of the German army are still visible today at Novicior: a cave used as a first aid point at that time, as well as two galleries used for storing ammunition and weapons.

 The natural potential of the Vaser Valley is based on its hydrographical network, being known that the Maramureș Mountains are crossed by numerous springs, floral features and fauna diversity. The most famous mineral springs are those from Șuligu, being used in the past for bottling and balneary treatments. The flora of the Natural Park consists of vegetal species distributed in tiers:

• deciduous forests (beech, sycamore, ash, birch and hornbeam)
•  coniferous forests (spruce, fir, pine, larch) 
• shrubs (juniper, mountain pine, black elderberry)

Among the floristic features of the massif we mention the edelweiss flower, lady’s slipper, mountain carnation, mountain bulb, daffodil, autumn crocus, mountain cuckoo beak 

The fauna of the Park is diversified and well represented by several species of mammals (brown bear, stag, deer, gray wolf, wild boar, fox, lynx, squirrel and marten)

•  birds (golden eagle, grouse, raven, blackbird, goldfinch, pigeon hawk),
•  reptiles and amphibians (mountain lizards, Aesculap’s snake, viper, salamander, red forest frog)
• fish (huck, grayling, mountain barbel, indigenous trout, striped chub).

 The most important attractions on the route are the following: 

• Piatra Șoimului, located at kilometre 16 on the left side of the direction of travel uphill. In the last century, the presence of lynx in the caverns of this rock was reported (currently lynxes are a protected species, being few specimens in the Maramureș Mountains).
• Cozia station at kilometre 18, where there is a forest canton, breeding ground, belonging to the Forestry District, the old station building and other workers’ cottages.
• The World War II galleries from Novicior, located at km 20.5, consisting of the first aid point (on the right side of the direction of travel) and the two tunnels used for storing ammunition and weapons (on the left side of the direction of travel).

 For those passionate about hiking, the Vaser Valley is the perfect natural setting for an adventure in the Maramureș Mountains.